TPS offers a limited before care program, 7:45-8a each day of the school year. Because of staffing and costs associated with this program, we ask that only families who truly need this support sign up. Click here to read all about the program, and to find the registration form.
Questions? Contact Ms. Heather James!
TPS Family Communications
Limited Before Care @ TPS
Club Membership & Enrichment Open
The Club portal for 25-26 membership and Friday Enrichment is now live. Students must renew membership each year ($20) to participate in their free aftercare program, their TPS-specific Friday Enrichment program, and their break camps. We strongly encourage families who think they’ll even occasionally utilize these programs to read all about them and complete the membership so they’ll be ready for their child’s participation. Click here for details, as well as contact info for Club staff. Please also take note that their open house will also be Tuesday, August 5 (5-7p, so you can go to both!). We are so grateful for our outstanding partnership with The Club!
Free & Reduced Meals Application Now Live
The free/reduced meals program application for the new year is now on our website. You’ll find application and instruction letter in both English and Spanish. For families who believe they qualify for this program, we strongly encourage you to complete the application, which must be completed for each new school year. Even if you believe that your child will bring their own lunch each day, having an approved application on file means you’ll be all set if you’d like your child to take advantage of meals (breakfast and lunch) at any time. Additionally, qualifying families receive discounts on things such as before care fees. Lastly, TPS has access to additional funding opportunities that support our school based on the number of families who qualify. So, if you believe you may qualify, you will be benefiting the entire school by submitting your application.
Click here for all information and forms, and know that Angie is standing by to answer questions, to provide you with paper form copies, and/or to support you in completing the application process!
Medication Administration & Health Office
If your child will need to have medication (over the counter, emergency, or prescription) administered throughout the school year or during a specific moment of the year, you will need to complete medication administration forms, and follow the instructions for providing the medication to the school. Please note that this does not include any OTC medications you have already given us permission – through enrollment forms – to administer.
Click here to read about our medication administration policies, as well as all our health office information for 25-26. Questions about medication administration or any other health office-related need? Contact our Health Aide, Bri. She stands ready to help!
Vegetarian Meals
TPS utilizes a 3-week menu rotation for our meal planning, posted on our website. Each week in the Update we share which week we are in from the rotation. Vegetarian options are held for students who have previously identified as vegetarian. Please complete this form if you need to request vegetarian meals for your child. This is an option for children who eat strictly vegetarian diets. Completing this form does not mean that your child will be required to purchase a school lunch every day of the school year. Rather, this will help us prepare so that we can order an accurate number of vegetarian meals as the year progresses. Please note that we are unable to provide vegan meals.
Questions? Please contact Angie, our Food Services Coordinator.
Back Pack Buddies
TPS partners with Community Kitchen, a wonderful local nonprofit that supports individuals and families experiencing food insecurity. One of their signature programs is Backpack Buddies, which consists of weekly deliveries of food to schools – both fresh and non-perishable items – to supplement a family's meals. Any TPS family who feels this would be helpful for them to overcome food insecurity is welcome to sign up. If you'd like to participate in this year's program, please complete this quick form so that we'll have the information we need. We will contact participating families when the program is ready to begin for this school year, and will let them know the day each week when food will be sent home with children.
Questions? Contact Ms. Rene, our Life Skills Coach.
Website Languages – Let Us Know Any New Ones to Include
One of our favorite things about our website is the ability for visitors to translate and view it in many different languages. We survey our families to find out what languages are spoken in their homes. And when possible (through Google Translate), we add new ones. Visit our website and click on the “translate” button in the upper right hand corner to see all the languages we currently offer.
Don’t see a language on our website that is spoken in your home or in your extended family? Complete this Language Survey to let us know, and we’ll add it if at all possible! And we highly recommend experiencing switching between the languages with your children, so they can see all the beautiful ways our TPS story can be translated. So many gorgeous alphabets!
Creating Family Connections During the Summer & New Year
Each year, we provide an optional opportunity for families to opt-in to a digital directory of the school. By completing a form, families automatically receive a Google Sheet with all of the data shared by other participating families. Remember, TPS does not monitor the data, nor how it is used. We ask families to not share the data with anyone – and to understand that not all families will choose to participate, so you may not have access to contact information for every student in your child's classroom.
Once the new school year has begun, we will send out this year’s form, so that data will go to a 25-26 directory. However, we know that some families would like to still make connections as the summer progresses. If you’d like to reach out to families based on last school year’s data, you can complete this 24-25 Family Connections Survey (select the grade your child was in for last year, and if you are new to the school you can just choose any teacher listed). If you then don’t receive the auto-generated spreadsheet with data once you've submitted the form, check your spam folder.
If you completed the form previously, but cannot find the data sheet, simply complete it once again to receive a new copy. Please do not reach out to staff to ask for a copy of the data or to check if you've previously submitted the form. And remember that this data sheet will be out of date once the new school year begins, so you’ll be prompted to complete a new form in upcoming weeks. In the meantime, happy connection making!
Back-to-School Open House & First Day of the Fall Semester
Our back-to-school open house will be on Tuesday, August 5, from 5-6p (the day before school begins). This will be a great opportunity to meet and greet teachers, connect with friends, see our spaces beautifully set up for the school year, and to drop off any school supplies you may have purchased. This open house is very brief, as our educators will have just concluded a very busy staff retreat week, and will likely still have some finishing touches on their classrooms before they head home to their own families.
We understand that this open house time may not work for everyone, but we hope to see you there. And then, we look forward to greeting all of our students for our first day of the 25-26 school year on Wednesday, August 6!
Families utilizing The Club: please note that their open house will also be Tuesday evening, August 5, from 5-7p. This is a great opportunity to make connections with Club staff, sign up for membership and Enrichment, and learn about their programs for the coming year. We hope that you’ll attend our open house, and then hop on over to theirs!
Staff Retreat Special Staff Meals & Treats – Can You Help?
Our lead teachers will begin their planning retreat on Wednesday, July 30, and will then be joined by our entire staff on Monday and Tuesday, August 4 and 5. During our staff retreat, we love providing special meals and treats for our team, to thank them for all of the work they put into getting us off to a great start. Are you able to make a contribution of any size to provide staff meals and treats during retreat? Click here to make a donation. We are so grateful for any and all support!
Our school supply lists for the 25-26 school year are published! Click here to access the lists – please look at the bottom of the sheet for tabs for each grade band. All supplies are always shared communally in the classroom; every student will have access to everything they need, regardless of ability to contribute. If you are able to purchase the entire list for your child's class, wonderful. If you are able to purchase just some of the items, also wonderful. And if you are able to purchase additional supplies and/or wish list items, we'll be so grateful!
Where to Find Our Calendar
Our calendar for 25-26 is finalized. You can find both a whole-year PDF, as well as a month-to-month website calendar. The whole-year calendar is a great tool for mapping out vacation days, conference days, etc. And the website calendar is a great tool to find special events, testing dates, etc. as they are added during the year. We also always list important dates in our Updates (see below!), and we encourage families to subscribe to our Google calendar so all important dates show up on their devices. All info and links can be found here.
When Teacher/Classroom Assignments Will Be Shared
Our team is hard at work determining classroom placements for new students, and for students who are transitioning from one age band group to another. We thank families for all of the input shared to help us as we make the best placements possible. This work will continue throughout the remainder of the summer. We will share finalized placements just before the new school year begins, with instructions about how to learn this information via PowerSchool.
Please note that until we send out a notice to families to say that placements have been finalized, any teacher assignment information that may show up in PowerSchool will be tentative and subject to change. Please wait for our announcement at the end of the summer before checking. Thanks!
25-26 Enrollment – Please Complete
Please complete all enrollment forms as soon into the summer as possible. If you need a reminder on how to log in or to recover a password, remember that we have all PowerSchool instructions and information on our website. If you experience any challenges after reviewing the instructions, please contact Alex, our Office and Facilities Manager. He will be happy to help you!
Have Your 25-26 Plans Changed?
We hope that all of our 24-25 K-7 students will be returning for the upcoming school year. But if your plans have changed, we really need to hear from you as quickly as possible so that we can offer spots to families on our waitlist. If you previously indicated that your child would be returning – or if you previously let us know you weren't sure of your plans – and now your plans have changed/firmed up, please contact us.
Newly added or updated items will be initially listed in italics. Subscribe to our google calendar to import dates directly onto your device, or access the full calendar via our website and phone app.
July 30-August 5
Staff Retreat
Tuesday, August 5
Back-to-School Open House (5-6p)
Wednesday, August 6
First Day of the 25-26 School Year!
Monday, September 1
Labor Day; no classes
Friday, October 3
Conference Day; no classes
Monday, October 6-Friday October 17
Fall Break; no classes
Friday, October 24
No Enrichment; Club preparing for an event
Monday, November 24-Friday, November 28
Thanksgiving Break; no classes
Tuesday, December 2
#GivingTuesday
Sunday, December 7-Saturday, December 13
TPS Book Week @ Morgenstern’s
Monday, December 22-Friday, January 2
Winter Break; no classes
Monday, January 5
Staff Work Day; no classes
Tuesday, January 6
First Day Spring Semester
Happening in the...
Summer Food Resources
For families seeking additional food resources during the summer, we have compiled a list of accessible organizations who stand ready to provide support. Click here to reach our meals page, and then scroll down to the tab labeled “Community Food Resources.” Take note of Community Kitchen's weekday offerings for children all summer long!
-------------------
To submit community events, opportunities, or announcements for the Update, send an email to connect@theprojectschool.org by utilizing the below guidelines:
(1) Prepare a one paragraph blurb, written and formatted to be easily copied and pasted.
(2) Include all necessary details (what, when, who, contact info, registration links, etc.).
(3) Submit no later than the Thursday afternoon prior to the Sunday you’d like it included.
(4) Share any promotional materials (fliers, etc.) as hyperlinks, not as attachments.
TPS reserves the right to determine the appropriateness of a submission for the Update.
This institution is an equal opportunity employer.
Visit our website and follow us on Facebook for lots of great school information!
Access a plain-text newsletter in our Family Communication Archive!
Questions about this newsletter? Contact us!